Man or Bear?
A new (heartbreaking) TikTok trend has been going around recently asking the very simple question: “If you were alone in the woods, would you rather be alone with a random man or a bear?” The point of the trend is to bring awareness to how unsafe women can feel around men. This isn’t to say that ‘all men are bad’ because that would be wrong; women can be dangerous too. However, it does bring up the conversations of fear and feeling unsafe.
The question is asking if you’d rather take a gamble, or hopefully make it out of the woods unharmed. It demonstrates your perspective on how people are treated by men. Coincidentally, it’s also demonstrating how people construct stereotypes about men in one-on-one situations.
Regardless, I’m choosing bear. There’s a chance that if I tell the bear “No”, the bear would turn around and mind his business. Can’t say I’ve never told a man to “fuck off” only for him to make a 13 hour playlist about it, or spam message me, or tell me that I’ve ruined his night. Of course I have met some amazing men in my life, but the question is asking if I’d rather be alone with a RANDOM man who I don’t know. Nah. Bear. All the way.